MTG: Beginnings
by ProliferateAllTheCounters
Summary: The deaths of Ulamog and Kozelik caused some major after-effect threatening the stability of the Multiverse while stirring something primordial. Non-original characters, places, etc, relating to MTG are property of Wizards of the Coasts.


"Beleren you fool! You should have listened to me! You've doomed the Multiverse!"

For the sixth night in a row, Jace had woke in a cold sweat hearing a familiar yet strangely unrecognizable voice. He couldn't imagine himself, administrator of the Guildwatch, a threat to the Muliverse.

"It's morning," he thought to himself, "I promised Lavinia I'd attend to Guildpact business for once."

By late afternoon, the meetings with guild leaders were finished. Jace was set to retire for the day but suddenly hears the familiar voice of the spirit dragon, Ugin.

"Beleren."

"Go away Ugin, I'm not in the mood to deal with you today."

"You look like you have been hearing ghosts in your sleep."

"How do you — it's been you, hasn't it?!"

"You should be less concerned about me disrupting your sleep and more that my anger echoed across the Blind Eternities from another plane." Regaining composure, Ugin continues, "I have been doing research."

"Research? Into what?"

"The Eldrazi."

"You can't be serious. We dealt with them years ago"

"Assemble the others. You, Chandra, Nissa, Gideon, and Liliana are responsible for the deaths of Ulamog and Kozilek and you must be told what you have wrought on the Multiverse."

"It's going to take some time."

"You have six months."

"That's not enough time."

"Make it enough."

Ugin's deadline was eerily impeccable as the Festival of the Guildpact would commence in six months making for a simple excuse while it would also be the anniversary of the death of the two Eldrazi.

"Jace, you didn't ask us here for the Festival, correct?"

"Correct Gideon."

"Then why," inquired Chandra, "did you ask us to come?"

"I requested your presence."

"Well Ugin, I don't see you as the Festival's event planner," smirked Liliana.

"I called you all here because there is something terrible wrong with the fabric of the Multiverse."

Understanding the lecture to come, the founding members of the Gatewatch took their seats.

"The Eldrazi are a race of creatures that feed on mana as opposed to manipulating it. Judging by their size, they had been consuming mana for eons. I would imagine they had destroyed countless planes. Zendikar proved such an alluring feast that the titans committed much of their essence to the manifestations on the plane. Once the manifestations were destroyed, the titans were unable to maintain themselves and collapsed. While decomposing, the bodies released the accumulated mana into the Blind Eternities. This is destabilizing the interplanar dimension and even affect the terrain of certain planes. Kolbahan is an astral plane that once had a single arena, now it has five arenas, one devoted to a single mana source. The plane, originally no larger than a normal one, has swelled to become larger than Alara. What is your question Nissa?"

"I have two. First, will this create new rifts and, second, would we be able to seal them if they occurred?"

"I do not know. There is something far more ancient than anything I have encountered blurring my vison."

Jace, somberly to himself, "Something must be terribly wrong if Ugin is at a loss."

Meanwhile, deep within the Blind Eternities, five entities, steeped in the afterglow of primordial mana, stir from eons of slumber. The flood of mana returning from the deaths of the two Eldrazi titans reawakens beings who once brought existence to the brink of destruction.

In his quest for information, Ugin had travelled to the fabled Guffian Library on Dominaria. The library itself was located within the Tabernacle of the Pendrell Vale. Ugin knew that he hadn't found Tolaria due to luck, but rather the legendary island sought him out and appeared for him. It was almost as if the island knew the Multiverse was in trouble.

* * *

"Confound it Guff!", cried Ugin, "Why does your library always shift the location of its books?!"

In frustration, Ugin declared "All I want to do is gather information! Why do bibliomancers have to be so difficult." At that moment, a scroll came flying towards him and unraveled itself. As it open, Ugin sees that its some sort of search form. On it, he could search for a term and sort the information by color affiliation, plane of reference, and if it was a spell, artifact, or creature. Ugin was quite amused at this. He chuckled and said, "Leave it to bibliomancers to be gatherers of such magical minutiae."

As Ugin searched for information, he heard an ethereal voice. It was that of Nicol Bolas from the Meditation Plane.

"I can sense you are on Dominaria, Ugin. I can sense you are in Guff's library, looking for information of the Eldrazi no doubt. I can help you, there is still one alive."

Ugin knew better than to trust Bolas, but his obsession with the Eldrazi forced him to consider allying with Bolas, for the time being.

On Mediation plane, the two dragons meet face to face since their battle. "It's good to see you again Ugin."

"I do not see how as last time you nearly killed me."

"Well, to be technical about it, I did kill you."

"You said you could help."

"Quite right, I did, and I can. As you know, Emrakul is trapped in the moon on Innastrad."

"Go on."

"I could, with the assistance of your breath, crack open the moon and bind Emrakul so you could study the last remaining Eldrazi."

Ugin had no doubt that Bolas was right. He knew that nothing, not even an Eldrazi, could defeat the combined might of the ancient dragons.

"What of the plane of Innastrad?"

"I'm surpised at you Ugin. I was under the impression you were a compassionless and objective observer."

"Do not patronize me Bolas."

"What of them? I believe there is a human saying regarding balancing the needs of the collective and the individual."

"The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few," Ugin thought to himself. Bolas was right, again. Emrakul was alive. There could be more Eldrazi. Somehow the Eldrazi and the disturbance were connected. He had to risk it. He had to trust Bolas. The very thought was ominous, but he saw no other alternative. Jace had already killed two of them. He had to study Emrakul.

"To Innastrad," resolved Ugin. Bolas grinned as only that dragon of old could.

Innastrad had been strangely peaceful despite the Hunter's Moon. The angels and humans could not understand why the vampires and werewolves had not been attacking. Sigaurdia, however, could feel the malevolence of Bolas moving towards Innastrad. She knew he would appear near Thraben due to the cyptoliths. Sigaurdia had the angels camp around the city.

Bolas was the first to appear on the plane, near the city just as Sigaurdia had felt. She doubted if the host of angels could force back the dragon, but they had to try. Just as the assault was about to commence, Ugin appeard, and the hopes of the angels rose tremendously; with his help, it might be possible to defend Innastrad from Bolas. Seeing that an assault was about to begin, Ugin spoke up and said "I am here with Bolas. If he is attacked, I will come to his aid." The angels were greatly disheartened and withdrew.

"Why did you have to spoil the fun Ugin?"

"We are here for business Bolas, not pleasure."

"Killjoy."

The moon as brightest this time of year and would reach its influence would be at its zenith where the Helvault once stood. While the dragons waited for the moon to get at its apex, Ugin spoke up and said, "Bolas, while I believe you can break the moon, I would like to know how to plan to do so. Would you care to oblige an inquisitve old foe?

"Certainly Ugin, certainly. I was the first to hatch among my siblings. My father saw my aggressiveness and first taught me the ways of red magic. When I was ready to leave the news, he instructed that I learn other forms of magic. I chose to study black magic to kill or corrupt my rivals and blue magic to control my enemies. While I was quick to grasp the two other styles of magic, it was not until when I feasted upon the demonic leviathan, likely from Gixis, that I came to embody the convergence of the three colors. I plan to use the essence from that leviathan."

"The moon is in position, it is time."

The two dragons took flight and reached the moon in time to accomplish their plan. Bolas directed the blue essence of the leviathan to the longest finger of his left hand and proceeded to write draconic runes onto the moon's surface. Ugin asked, "Where did you learn those runes?" "They came to me in a dream," replied Bolas. After his reply, Ugin breathed into the carved runes and the burst into flames. Then cracking of the moon echoed across the entire plane of Innastrad. With Ugin distracted, Bolas drew the black essence into the longest finger of his right hand. Bolas had his own plan, Ugin was a pawn.

Emrakul was caught off guard. The Eldrazi was not prepared to leave its prison, the titan was still busy with its own plans. Seeing Emrakul was vulnerable, Bolas flew into the cracked moon and touched the Eldrazi with his finger. With the touch of concentrated black mana, the Eldrazi died. For a moment, the mana leaving the dead titan had a purple hue, but quickly reverted to the five familiar colors. Bolas was ready to soak of the immense amount of red mana eaten by Emrakul through the ages. He hadn't felt this powerful since the Mending, but he wanted more; he needed more to return to his former glory.

Ugin was more despondent and angry with himself than at Bolas. "I should not have trusted him," he thought. As Ugin left Innastrad, Bolas began to forge the moon into his own creation. Innastrad would become his new home. The Multiverse had not seen a Nicol Bolas unburdened by the need of a plane with three different mana leylines.

While Ugin was in the Blind Eternities, he became surrounded by the glow of the five colors. From each color, he heard a different voice yet they spoke in unison.

"Who are you."

"I am Ugin, a spirit dragon."

"Your lack of color is interesting, but how did you get here?"

"I am a planeswalker. I have the ability to traverse the Blind Eternities and travel to the different planes. If I may ask, who are you?"

"We are ancient beings, older than your so-called Multiverse."

"Then where are you from?"

"We are from a universe before this one. We find the idea of a planeswalker interesting. We shall hold a tournament to see their strength. We will need a herald to retrieve these planeswalkers, one that is not weak to any color."

"Count me out, I have research to do."

"You will be our herald. In exchange, we will answer your questions."

"Deal."


End file.
